Anything's Better Than Nothing
by Happy Cows Mooo
Summary: This is my version of how Harry and Ginny get together. Ginny gets a little carried away one day, and it's up to Hermione and Ron or so they think to set things right. Set during the trio's sixth year. Rating for mild language and windows.
1. Of Defenestration and Other Useless

Of "Defenestration" and Other (Useless) Vocabulary Words

The only thing that was really memorable about March 6th was that it was a very windy day. None of the students at Hogwarts paid much attention to the announcements of the day ("Today is the first Hogsmeade weekend of March… A copy of _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_ was left in Professor Flitwick's room… Until further notice, all use of transfiguration spells has been halted due to a sudden increase in the number of wild dragons captured in the castle…). Besides the fact that students kept losing their homework in mysterious fires, Argus Filch had no real reason to stop them from enjoying a nice Hogsmeade weekend.

"I swear," Ron began, heading down the castle steps, "only Hagrid could make having a dragon as a pet popular."

"I don't know," Hermione said thoughtfully, "Owning a dragon might be against school rules, but at least students are transfiguring other animals instead of importing real dragons. Actually, a transfiguration spell like that must be really difficult to cast. It would almost be good practice for some of those rule-breaking types."

"Oh come on, Hermione. Not everyone who breaks the rules is a moron."

"No, but most of them are."

They both paused halfway across the grounds to see Malfoy running for dear life from a particularly nasty Hungarian Horntail, which, although it looked only about a year old, was enthusiastically spitting flames at him.

"Do you think we should help him?"

"Ah, he'll be fine. Crabbe and Goyle will probably be arriving any minute to save him."

"What if they don't know the correct spell for reversing the transfiguration?"

"The correct _spell_? We are talking about Crabbe and Goyle, right? The dragon'll probably eat them first and give Malfoy time to escape."

There was a slight pause, and Ron added, "By the way, have you seen Harry around? Wasn't he supposed to help Neville with his homework or something?"

"I don't think I've seen him; he'll show up, though."

- Earlier -

If he had had had any foresight on this particular morning, he might have realized that balancing on a two-inch wide section of wood with no handholds wasn't really a good idea. It wasn't really something any normal person would think about, but he supposed common sense dictated that if one was going to stand about on windowsills, one should know these things. However, this train of thought couldn't last, and as the ground rushed up to meet him, he said what he had really, _really_, hoped would not be his last words.

"Oh, sh-"

Ginny ran around her dorm room, frantically searching for her favorite necklace. She didn't think any of her fellow fifth years would have borrowed it, but it wasn't on the floor, on her nightstand, or tangled in her other jewelry. In desperation, she threw open her trunk. After a few minutes of digging around, she found the choker she had been looking for. Ginny spent another two minutes trying to put it on herself until a sudden gust of wind slammed the dorm room door shut, making her jump. Realizing what had made the noise, shescowled and strode over to the room's only window and closed it. Stuffing the choker in her pocket, she headed out of the Gryffindor common room and started down a staircase, taking the steps two at a time.

Ginny arrived at Honeyduke's only slightly out of breath, with her hair in a sloppy half-ponytail. Spotting her friend Violet up at the register, she walked up to the front of the queue, cutting in front of a bunch of third years.

"What took you so long?" Violet demanded.

"Oh, you know me… I couldn't find a shirt I really liked."

Violet looked at Ginny for a minute to consider the truthfulness of this statement. "That halter top does look really cute on you. Must be against some dress code or something."

"Who cares? None of the teachers are here today anyways," Ginny said grumpily.

Violet paid for her candy and flirted with the boy at the cash register, and then the two friends headed for the Three Broomsticks.

- The Three Broomsticks -

Neville looked around the room irritably. As far as he could tell, he was the only student in the whole place. That in itself was unusual for a Hogsmeade weekend, and was made even more unusual by the fact that there was _supposed_ to be someone there. As far as Neville knew, there was no Quidditch practice that day, but he was sure that there was some reason his friend was running late. On the table lay an unfinished essay on the uses for manticore venom.

At the door, a bell rang. Harry walked into the shop and took a seat across from Neville. He had numerous scrapes and cuts, and several bruises on his arms. "Sorry I'm late," he said, grinning.

"What happened to you?" Neville asked, looking Harry up and down.

"Oh… er… I… fell out of a window, actually."

"What? How the hell did you do that?"

"Um… never mind… Look, there's Ron and Hermione! I'll go get some butterbeers." Harry got up and ran to the bar as the bell sounded again.

Ron and Hermione came over to sit at Neville's table, and Ron looked at him curiously. "Have you seen Harry anywhere?"

"Yeah, he just got here."

"Where has he been since breakfast?"

"He fell out of a window, apparently."

"Fell out of a window? How did he do that?"

"I dunno… that's all he said."

Soon the conversation was lost as Neville tried to reroute Hermione to the subject of manticores.

"The venom is highly useful in certain potions," she explained.

"Potions for what? Poisoning people? I don't call that useful."

Hermione sighed in exasperation and launched into a complicated discussion Neville was quite sure he wouldn't understand. The shop's bell rang a third time as Ginny and Violet entered. Ginny went to sit with another knot of Gryffindors but Violet came over to where Neville, Ron, and Hermione were sitting.

"Are you guys still working on that Care of Magical Creatures essay?" she asked. "Because I don't get it."

"Why didn't you come in here earlier?" Hermione asked, irritated.

"Ginny was laaaaaaaate," Violet whined.

"When did she get to Hogsmeade?"

"Oh, just a few minutes ago."

Ginny was in the middle of another conversation as Hermione walked over to sit next to her. The two girls were good friends, but as such, Ginny knew from her expression of dire seriousness that Hermione meant to discuss only one thing: homework.

"You know, you could really benefit from our study groups," she said as she took the empty seat between Ginny and another fifth year friend, Madison. Madison looked offended, and sighed pointedly, but Hermione showed no signs of moving so she stood up and stalked off. "You know, Hermione, there are people in the world that do things besides study," Ginny said exasperatedly.

"Really? I can't imagine why," Hermione replied sarcastically.

"It's a Hogsmeade weekend, Hermione. Even you can't turn that into time for doing homework."

"Honestly, you sound just like Ron sometimes."

"Well, I can't let you work yourself to death," Ginny said, playing with a paperclip she had found in her pocket.

"What's up with you?" Hermione demanded.

"Weather's strange today," said Ginny unconvincingly.

"Oh, come on…"

"It is! That's it. Really."

"No it isn't. Tell me."

"You promise to keep it a secret?"

"Of course. I'm not some little gossip like Parvati or Lavender."

Lavender, hearing Hermione's last comment, stood up from across the table and walked away huffily.

"You're just alienating people left and right today, aren't you, Hermione?"

"Quit changing the subject and trying to impress me with florid words."

"No, really, Hermione, I use words like 'alienating' every day."

"I didn't force you to read that Muggle Studies book."

"No, you just threatened to take points from Gryffindor, is all."

"Quit being dodgy and tell me the _real _story!"

"Fine…"


	2. The Real Story

Chapter 2: The _Real_ Story

As the trees of the Forbidden Forest rippled in the morning breeze, an owl veered slowly down through the sky toward Gryffindor Tower. The last occcupant of the fifth year girls' dormitory was sound asleep, unaware of the blustery weather or the students already leaving the school for a day out. But not for long.

The old owl swooped down toward the window, trimmed his wings, swept out his tail, and-

WHAM!

- flew into the, regrettably, closed window.

"... Don't wanna go to school, Mum," Ginny mumbled, and then as she woke up, "Oh, Erroll, not again!"

She threw herself out of bed and dashed over to said window, where Erroll was barely managing to cling onto the sill. She quickly undid the latch to the window, which, regrettably, opened outward. A hooting Erroll was thrown from his precarious perch to fall down the side of the tower.

"Oh my gosh!"

Ginny stuck her head frantically out of the window and saw that Erroll, instead of falling all the way down the tower, had landed on a scaffold running around the tower a few feet below the window. She whipped out her wand and summoned the bewildered owl up into the empty dorm room. Sighing, she untied the now very crumpled letter from his leg and immediately recognized Mrs. Weasley's handwriting. She knew that telling her mother about the breakup with her latest (ex-) boyfriend (what was it, number eight?) might elicit a startling reaction, but she wasn't really sure how to take this.

_Dear Ginny,_

_My poor little girl! I know how horrible it can be to have your heart broken by someone you love, and feel as though a piece of you is missing and will never come back. All the same, if the idiot boy couldn't see how special my baby is, he was obviously utter rubbish, and you're very well out of it. If he gives you any more trouble, just you tell Fred and George, and they'll sort him out. I think the best thing you can do right now is give your poor heart time to mend. Chin up, and don't let anyone get you down. By the by, are there any new possibilities right now? Love,_

_Mum_

Ginny read the letter twice before deciding that it simply had too many contradictions to understand, and that she might as well give it to Ron to figure out. Instead, she thought once again about how Dean had said that they needed to talk, and sat her down and quietly told her that he was in love with someone else. She had responded in only three words:

"Okay… bye, then."

She hadn't been able to resist making the whole thing sound more dramatic in her letter, but now her mum sounded more upset about it than she was. She _had_ liked Dean, but rather in the same way that kids like having Beanie Baby collections: it's fun to get them, but after the novelty wears off, they just sort of clutter things up.

It was with this untroubled thought that she heard the noise from outside. She stuck her head out of the window once more and saw that someone was standing on the scaffolding several yards away and shouting.

"Open the stupid window, Seamus, or I swear there'll be no tomorrow!"

A certain messy-haired, green-eyed someone.

"Harry, what are you doing?" Ginny called.

He turned sharply, and then saw her leaning out of the open window. He walked over and said, "I cam out here in the morning to finish a star chart, and the bloody prat locked the window on me."

"A star chart? You must've gotten up pretty early. Why did Seamus lock the window?"

"I couldn't sleep, so I just decided to get a little air. Seamus claimed that someone had stolen his 'Quidditch' magazines. If Ron's been digging through his collection of _Playboys_ again…"

Ginny snorted. After a pause, Harry looked furtively at her.

"Well, seeing as I'm kind of stuck out here, could I come in?"

She smiled a little but pulled her head back inside and stepped back. "Does that spell only work on the stairs, then?"

Harry paused in the window frame. "I'm not sure." He cautiously set one foot down, and then the other and then looked around.

He made a face. "Wow… I definitely prefer the scarlet curtains. How'd you guys get stuck with gold?"

"You _girls_," Ginny corrected, laughing, "and I kind of like it."

Before any more could be said, the dormitory door rattled and voices sounded outside. Harry darted a panicked look at Ginny, who hissed, "Hide!" He crouched behind the last bedstand, and Ginny sat on the bed just as the door flew open.

Madison, Violet, and a dark-haired girl named Sophia stampeded in. They were all laughing about something Violet was holding.

"Where were you guys?" Ginny asked casually.

"Oh, we were just talking to Seamus. He's gone mental and decided to search the whole boys' dorm because somebody stole some magazines of his or something. But anyways, I asked him what he'd found so far and he said he'd give me anything 'interesting,'" Violet said with a smirk, holding up a small laundry bag. "Would you care to do the honors?"

Ginny got up and opened the bag. "Oh good grief," she muttered.

"What is it?" Sophia asked. She reached into the bag and pulled out a pair of black boxer shorts.

All three of the girls burst out laughing.

"All I can say is that I hope those are clean," Ginny said sardonically.

Sophia shrieked and threw the shorts, which landed right on Madison's head. She pulled them off and held them at arm's length while the other three girls tried to keep from laughing. "They smell clean," she said finally.

"Yuuuuck!" Sophia replied maturely.

Madison dropped the shorts on the nearest bed. "We could always give these to Helen," she said mischieviously. "I'm sure she'd want them."

Still giggling, Sophia, Violet, and Madison herded out of the room, made strangely quiet by the receding voices.

"Well, it sounds like that's over, so you could probably go back now and save yourself going down those stairs. Just as well, it's probably pretty crowded in the common room." Ginny turned back to where Harry was hiding. Harry stood but didn't move. "What's up?"

Blushing furiously, he stumped up to the front of the room, snatched up the abandoned boxer shorts, and ran over to the window.

"Then those _are_ yours," Ginny said, again fighting back laughter.

"Maybe," Harry muttered, now as red as a tomato.

"Poor Helen will feel so deprived."

"Who's Helen?"

"This girl in our dorm who subscribes to _Witch Weekly_. She filled out one of those quiz things about her ideal boyfriend, and left it lying around. One of the questions was 'Boxers or briefs?' and Madison could never pass up the opportunity to tease her about something as good as that."

"Is there much of a debate there?"

"Apparently."

"…"

"Well, I guess I should go. You probably have plans."

"Oh, that's right. It's a Hogsmeade weekend. Yeah, I was meeting Violet."

Harry stepped over to the window and awkwardly tried to balance on the windowsill while holding the boxers in one hand.

"Here," Ginny said, and offered her hand for him to hold onto. He stepped up onto the sill, and as he turned around, ducking slightly, to say "Thanks," and smiled at her, Ginny felt her old crush rushing to resurface. The morning breeze blew toward her his scent of vaguely tangy pine and wood smoke. Without entirely knowing why, she stood on tiptoe and leaned forward to kiss him.

However, he had already let go of her hand, and he wobbled a second, careened wildly, looking as though he was a fledgling attempting to fly, and then toppled out of the window, somehow managing to miss the narrow scaffolding, and fell for what seemed like an eternity down the side of the tower.

Transfixed in horror for a moment, Ginny stared out the window. Then she whirled around, ran out of the dormitory, and took the stairs two steps at a time, emitting a continuous shriek of "OH MY GOD!"

Several nervous first years took flight at the sound of her approach, and many more at the sight of her hurling herself down staircases in apparent disregard for anything in her way, like a small, ginger-colored cannonball. She dashed out the front doors and ran around the castle to where Harry was somehow standing after the fall. He was doubled over, leaning on his knees for support, but luckily he didn't seem to be seriously hurt.

"Are you okay?" Ginny asked timidly.

He straightened up and turned around. "Yeah… I'm okay."

"Um, sorry," she trailed off awkwardly.

"That's alright. Listen, I was supposed to meet someone at Hogsmeade, so, so I'd better go," Harry stammered. He walked off through the sunshine to the school gates.


End file.
